New Jersey: 10 percent, and unprofitable startups can sell the credit for cash.

Rate	10% over base, plus 10% on basic research
Refundable	No (credits sellable via NJEDA)

The credit is at N.J.S.A. 54:10A-5.24. It equals 10 percent of the excess of New Jersey qualified research expenses over a base amount, plus 10 percent of basic research payments to qualified organizations. Both halves count only research conducted in New Jersey.

It is a Corporation Business Tax (CBT) credit. New Jersey has no matching R&D credit under the Gross Income Tax or the Pass-Through Business Alternative Income Tax, so the benefit reaches the company through the CBT return. For a Delaware C corporation doing business in New Jersey, that is the CBT-100. For an S corporation, QSSS, or partnership, the credit flows to the corporate owner, computed on Form 306.

For privilege periods beginning on or after January 1, 2018, New Jersey uses the same method you used federally - the regular fixed-base method or the Alternative Simplified Credit - applied to New Jersey expenses (P.L. 2018, c.48; N.J.A.C. 18:7-3.23A). If you cannot cleanly separate in-state research, the rules let you apportion total QRE by a New Jersey property, payroll, and receipts fraction.

The credit is non-refundable. Unused credit carries forward seven privilege periods. Companies doing qualifying research in priority fields - advanced computing, advanced materials, biotechnology, electronic device technology, environmental technology, and medical device technology - get a 15-year carryforward instead.

You claim it on Form 306, filed with a timely original or amended CBT return. Miss that filing and the carryforward is lost.

A non-refundable credit is worth nothing to a company with no tax to offset. New Jersey's answer is the Technology Business Tax Certificate Transfer Program, run by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA). It lets a qualifying technology or biotechnology company sell unused R&D credits and net operating losses to an unrelated, profitable New Jersey taxpayer for cash.

To qualify, a company must:

• Have fewer than 225 US employees, with at least 75 percent working in New Jersey.
• Not have had positive net operating income on either of its last two full-year financial statements.
• Own, have filed for, or hold a license to use protected proprietary intellectual property.
• Meet NJEDA's technology or biotechnology business definition.

The benefits sell for at least 80 percent of their value, up to a lifetime cap of $20 million per company. The program runs an annual pool (most recently $75 million, with a set-aside for businesses in Innovation Zones and for minority- or women-owned businesses). The application window runs on an annual cycle that has closed at the end of June, so confirm the current year's deadline with NJEDA before you plan around it.

For a pre-profit SaaS company, this is the difference between a credit that sits unused for seven years and cash this year.

R&D Binder produces federal Section 41 documentation from your GitHub commit history. The binder supports your federal Form 6765 and, starting tax year 2026, the mandatory Form 6765 Section G appendix. The same documentation supports New Jersey, because the New Jersey credit uses the federal Section 41 definition of qualified research, applied to New Jersey expenses.

The New Jersey state credit workpaper is a $995 add-on to the standard binder engagement. It produces:

• A New Jersey-attributable QRE breakdown (employee, contractor, and supplies expenses tied to research conducted in New Jersey, using the same business-component partition as the federal binder).
• The New Jersey base amount and credit computation under the same method you used federally.
• Form 306 input values.
• If you plan to apply to the NJEDA transfer program, the R&D credit substantiation packet that application relies on.

We produce the workpaper. Your CPA files Form 306, and your CPA or NJEDA advisor submits any transfer application. R&D Binder does not file New Jersey returns or sign anything for the taxpayer.

If you operate in multiple states, additional state workpapers are $995 each. Most states with an R&D credit track the federal QRE definition closely, so the marginal cost per state is low once the federal binder is complete.

A worked example. A Jersey City SaaS company with 14 engineers, $3.2M in qualifying wages (federal QRE pool), 9 engineers physically located in New Jersey, and two years of operating losses.

• Federal Section 41 credit. Computed on the full $3.2M federal QRE pool through Form 6765, claimed by the CPA. R&D Binder produces the binder, QRE workpaper, and Form 6765 Section G appendix.
• New Jersey credit (gross). Computed on the New Jersey-attributable portion of QREs. Roughly $2.06M ($3.2M times the 9/14 engineer location ratio). With a New Jersey base amount of about $0.7M, the credit base is roughly $1.36M. At 10 percent, the gross credit is about $136,000. These figures are illustrative; the actual base depends on the method used federally.
• Selling it for cash. Because the company is unprofitable, that $136,000 is non-refundable and would otherwise sit as a carryforward. Through the NJEDA transfer program, the company can instead sell the credit, along with its unused net operating losses, for at least 80 percent of value - turning roughly $109,000 or more of the credit into cash this year.
• Total engagement cost. SaaS Standard tier ($4,995, 6 to 25 FTE) plus New Jersey state workpaper add-on ($995). Total $5,990.

The CPA files. R&D Binder never appears on the federal or New Jersey return.

Whether the Division of Taxation reviews the credit on a CBT audit or NJEDA reviews the substantiation behind a transfer application, the documentation expected is the same kind the IRS expects under federal Section 41: business-component identification, four-part-test rationale, contemporaneous evidence, and QRE allocation by employee, contractor, and supplies. The binder R&D Binder produces is built to that standard, and the New Jersey workpaper carries the in-state expense attribution into the same business-component structure.

Our standard scope ends at delivering the binder and the state workpaper. Audit-defense engagement is a separate scope at $250 per hour, scoped per incident. We do not represent before the Division of Taxation or NJEDA; that stays with your CPA or your New Jersey tax advisor.

• N.J.S.A. 54:10A-5.24 (Corporation Business Tax credit for research and development activities).
• New Jersey Division of Taxation, Technical Bulletin TB-114, The New Jersey Research and Development Tax Credit (revised November 25, 2025).
• New Jersey Division of Taxation, Form 306, Research and Development Tax Credit.
• N.J.A.C. 18:7-3.23A (New Jersey research credit for privilege periods beginning on and after January 1, 2018).
• New Jersey Economic Development Authority, Technology Business Tax Certificate Transfer (NOL) Program.
• IRS Form 6765 (federal Credit for Increasing Research Activities); New Jersey applies the federal Section 41 definition of qualified research to New Jersey expenses.

This page is general informational content, not tax advice for any specific taxpayer. The New Jersey R&D credit is administered by the New Jersey Division of Taxation, and the credit transfer program is administered by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority. Rate, carryforward, and transfer-program figures reflect published guidance as of June 2026. Confirm current rules, caps, and deadlines with your CPA, the Division of Taxation, or NJEDA before claiming or applying.

• The Section 41 four-part test
• What is a qualified research expense (QRE)?
• Form 6765 and Section G
• Arizona R&D credit
• California R&D credit
• Connecticut R&D credit
• Delaware R&D credit